Basilisk

Lord Basilisk (died 1190) was the de facto Grand Master of the Knights Templar in 1190, succeeding Gerard de Ridefort and preceding Robert de Sable (there was a gap in the title of Grand Master that year).

Biography
Lord Basilisk was a knight of the Templar Order, and in 1190 he travelled to the Kingdom of Jerusalem to become one of the Templar commanders in the region. He sought to open the Temple of the Sand, where he believed an important chalice was stored. The Hashshashin attempted to have him killed at a party hosted by King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, but failed to do so. Basilisk, however, lost his key to the temple while escaping. When he entered the Temple through breaching the walls, he was confronted by assassin Altair Ibn-La'Ahad, who now had all three keys to the temple. He found out that the chalice was a woman named Adha, and left the temple as it collapsed.

In late 1190, Basilisk ordered his forces to lay siege to the Saracen city of Acre, which was under siege by his predecessor Gerard de Ridefort since the year earlier. Basilisk was wounded in Tyre by Altair, who burnt down all of his ships in the harbor to delay his voyage to Jerusalem, where Adha was located. But as the Hashshashin second-in-command Harash distracted Altair in Jerusalem, Basilisk headed to Aleppo and captured Adha there. Altair encountered him for the last time in Tyre, where he sent Adha off on a ship, and Basilisk was killed in a duel. However, Altair was not to find Adha until between 1191 and 1195, as she left on another ship.